Microsoft’s Surface laptop prototype leaks and contains Intel’s Lunar Lake chips

Earlier this year, Microsoft launched its Surface Laptop 7 without Intel chips to promote Windows on Arm and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips. Now it looks like a Surface Laptop with Intel’s latest Lunar Lake chips could hit the market next year.

In a now-deleted listing on Chinese used market Goofish, a Surface laptop prototype has surfaced, complete with what looks like Intel’s Core Ultra 7 268V processor. Windows Central I spotted the listing, but it’s not clear if it’s just a Surface Laptop 7 variant or a Surface Laptop 8.

In any case, the laptop prototype is clearly marked as such, with the huge engraving “Prototype – not for sale” on the bottom of the device. While it’s easy to fake the CPU listing in Windows, the appearance of the prototype label confirms that this is likely a real, unreleased laptop from Microsoft. It is rare for such devices to be phased out or even sold online.

If Microsoft considers Lunar Lake chips for its Surface laptop lineup, it would ensure there is an Intel option for those who want Copilot Plus PC features. The Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 both shipped with Intel’s Meteor Lake processors earlier this year, but didn’t have an NPU powerful enough for Microsoft’s Copilot Plus features. Instead, they were aimed at businesses and lacked the updated designs of the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7.

The listing for this Surface Laptop prototype notes that the unannounced device is expected to go on sale sometime in 2025, which could point to a CES 2025 announcement if Microsoft is preparing this for consumers. The other possibility is that Microsoft once again limits Intel-based Surface devices to commercial customers.

We reached out to Microsoft for comment on this leaked prototype, but the company did not respond in time for publication.